The Opelousas courier., 1887-04-16
- r.
A CATTLE RANCH.
Visit to a Stock Ratser's Home
in Dakota.
House and Barn of Hewn Tree Trunks
The Horse Range Among the Hills.


A house built of the hewn trunks O.
trees, surrounded by wide porches, sup
ported by boles Of oak natures pill,
lars" A barn 100 feet square, built in
the same way as the house, and rooted
part with thatch. and part with common
shingles. High turrets on each corner
give it a casteliated appearance. A
large corral, ten feet high, built of solid
logs. In front, great hay meadows
covered with haystacks by the score,
and farther on the gentle rising bluffs
which denmark the valley. On the other
side wi~re-enclosed paddocks, then a
great body of dense timber
through which the river runs
with many q snrpentine curve;
through a break in the timber, more
meadow and more hay stacks, and six
miles away, gray and black in the morn
ing sun, the jagged edges of the par
TALLY timbered so-called sand hills out
lined against the western sky, and we
have a picture of the ranch Of a former
Wyoming. stock raiser, who, delighted
by the hay meadows in the valleys and
the well erased uplands Of the Mouse
River country, so different from the s'arid
belt" has established himself here, with
his tbunches" of horses and Glands" of
cattle. In company with its owner, Mr..
Joh1 McKelyey, we left the train one
evening at Towner, Oak, a new and
growing town on the Devils Lake ex-
tension of the st. Paul, Minneapolis and
Manitoba Railroad, and at the first cross
ing of tho Mou sc River, to visit the ranch,
two miles away. The night was dark,
and though our road was at right angles
to the track, when we were some dis
lance away we were Mortified to see the
train bearing down upon us like a fiery
monster. Hastily getting out of the
way, McKelvey suggested that perhaps
the night was so dark that the engineer,
with his train, had lost his bearings and
strayed out upon the prairie, but on
second thought we concluded that the
train was all right and we were lost.
Soon obtaining our bearings, without
more adventure We arrived at the ranch.
Two hundred and fifty cattle and 800
horses are the number kept here.
Our visit to the ''horse range" among
the hills, was full of interest. Crossing
the river, out upon the hay flat, then to
the higher level, where this clear, calm
morning the hills, with their sharp, SER
rated outlines, make q beautiful view, a
rapid walk over the intervening space
and we are soon at our destination,
where, snugly placed in an oak grove
under the lee Of a high hill, we find the
buildings, where the ''boys'' chang out"
A low house of logs, with dirt roof,
which during the summer nourished a
luxurious growth of weeds, the door
ofnamented with the head and claws of
the great white owl, is the dwelling, while
a rough barn accommodates the '~tstrino"
of horses used while riding the range.
A spring near by furnishes water for all.
Here and there upon the range punches
OF horses are grazing on the buffalo grass
on the hills, Oh on the rushes and wild
pea vines in the cradle holes, while boot !
ed and spurred, the boys arc riding here
and there, hunting up the scattered
bands, and making the Count which
is taken daily. OF the boys, one is a
Mexican, "Pietro," born in the sunny
South and expert with the lasso and in
roping and riding bueking horses. Muir
ray is a Scotch h%erdsman, fresh from the
Highlands, knowing all about handling
and feeding sheep and cattle. McOord
is an American, not up 10 ranch matters
yet, but very willing to learn. If Petrol
ropes and rides for the frsttime a buck.
ing t ree-year-old, the next ono to mount
will be McCord, if only to get igno.
minieuslY bounced.
We find these horses to be fine. roomy.
large-limbed horses of Oregon stock,
which the owner will cross on the Nor
man, Percheron and Clydesdale. He is
also a believer in the thoroug ibred, and
a few selected mares will be used for the
purpose Of producing driving : stock.
The cattle will fatten rapidly on the rich
hay this winter,1and the surplus will b.
marketed next June. They will br ne
the top price, for they are large, fine
beasts, and the aromatic prairie hay.
with wild pea vine, rich in phos-
will make the finest quality Of
beef, and the carcasses will cut up to the
best advantage possible.-[springfefd
ILL., Journal.
A Short Sermon.
There are lines when you are brought
s&ZR @EE Il